EP selection for Nexstar 6 SE

[Digian]

Hello folks, I have recently acquired celestron nexstar 6 se scope. Am now looking to build up a basic set of eyepieces to complement.

I try to avoid wasted purchases and think I will outgrow the celestron plossl EP kit fairly quickly if I go that way, so would rather spend $500-600 up front rather than $200 on the kit and then never using it later. I have read that the celestron plossl kit is targeted at beginners, I can see myself continually learning.

Could anybody recommend a set of ep's to start out with, lets aim for say $500 ? At this stage I am looking at the entry level TeleVue plossl's, I am looking at the TeleVue gear just because they have a good name but I am in no way biased.

I like the TeleVue barlow 2x for around the $140. I was also reading about the PowerMates but I got really confused when it starts saying Barlows suit some scope designs better than PowerMates. Can anybody tell me Barlow vs PowerMate in regard to Schmidt-Cassegrain .. i realise the powermate probably double the price, but how would a 2x Barlow compare to say a 2.5x PowerMate ? Would PowerMate be twice as good , or is either more suited to my scope ?

I can pickup the TeleVue plossl EPs around $80-100. Would 3 or 4 of these and a Barlow or a PowerMate be a far superior set to the Celestron plossls ... It's twice the price so would it perform twice as good as the Celestron Plossl kit ? Would I be better off with say 2 higher quality TeleVue Naglers and a Barlow/Powermate instead ?

Maybe you folks could recommend me some other good eyepieces that would be better than the TeleVue plossl's but less expensive than the Naglers that I can also look into ? Say $100-200 each price range (and im talking eBay prices) ?

So many options, so confusing. If you can help answer the Barlow vs PowerMate question that would be a great start for me.

Many thanks

Specs on the scope are:
6" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope
1500mm focal length (f/10)

[casstony]

Welcome to IIS Digian :).

Standard advice is to go slow with your eyepiece purchases. The best eyepieces for you will depend on your personal preferences (wide field of view? how much eye relief? etc), your local observing conditions (how high magnification can your area support, how much light pollution) and the targets you like to look at.

You'll likely only use 2 or 3 eyepieces most of the time. To pick one to start with I might suggest a 19mm Panoptic, giving a wide field of view at about 80x magnification; after that you'll want to jump to the highest magnification that your local conditions will often support.

[Wavytone]

At f/10 your useful eyepiece range is 7 - 50mm.

Forget Plossls, they are a waste of money. The 6" can't cope with 2" eyepieces so your practical upper limit is about 25mm and the GSO 1.25" range from www.andrewscom.com.au would do better than Plossls.

The next step up is a full set of Edmund RKE's,ideal for an f/10 scope - they span 8 - 28mm.

Beyond that you might look at a set of Vixen LVW (8, 13 and 22 mm), Televue Radians, Ethoi or Naglers.

[wavelandscott]

what eyepieces do you currently own?

[Digian]

The scope came with a 25mm celestron plossl. That is all.

Can anybody comment on the Barlows vs the PowerMates ?

WavyTone: I assume your talking about the GSO (Guan Shen) SV lenses ?

I am in regional VIC ... so light isnt as bigger issue as in city.

Thanks for the feedback

[JethroB76]

Cannot comment on whether one design is more suited to a particular scope or not, but one difference between the powermate and barlow is that the powermate will maintain the native eye relief of the EP you use in it whereas the barlow will increase the ER, this can be good or bad depending on how much ER the EP already has.
A good quality barlow shouldnt lose out too much to a powermate, if any.